Got a foreign gift over $100,000?
You need to file Form 3520.
The IRS form TurboTax won't do. $99 flat, signed and ready to mail in about 20 minutes — no CPA, no $2,000 retainer.
No card required to start. Pay only when your form is ready.
How it works
Three steps. Not three weeks.
A CPA needs your story, then a follow-up email, then a draft, then edits, then mail. We collapse that to one sitting.
Answer a few questions
Tell us who gave you what and when. We pick the right part of Form 3520, lock the historical USD rate, and flag any FBAR or 8938 obligations.
About 8 minutes.
Review the auto-filled PDF
Your facts flow into the official IRS Form 3520. You see exactly what the IRS sees, line by line. No retyping.
About 5 minutes.
Sign, print, mail
Download the package, sign the printed Form 3520 in pen, drop it in the mail to IRS Ogden. Keep the certified-mail receipt — that's your proof of timely filing.
About 7 minutes.
What you get
Built for Form 3520. Nothing else.
TurboTax doesn't support it. Generic tax software treats it as an edge case. We built the entire product around it.
Guided question flow
A short wizard handles the IRS thresholds, extension flags, and donor-type checkboxes. You answer plain-English questions; we pick the right part of Form 3520.
Historical FX conversion
We pull the USD exchange rate for the day the gift was received from OpenExchangeRates and lock it on your filing for the audit trail.
AES-256 encrypted
SSN and filing data are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM, in transit with TLS 1.3. We follow IRS Publication 4557.
Immutable audit log
Every change to your filing — questionnaire answers, donor edits, PDF generation, payment — is written to an append-only audit log retained for the 7-year IRS record-keeping period.
Print + mail package
Auto-filled Form 3520 PDF plus a pre-addressed envelope label for IRS Ogden. Print, sign in pen, drop in the mail.
Cross-form check
If your facts also trigger FBAR or Form 8938, we flag it before you file — and link to fbarfile.com ($29) for the FBAR.
How we compare
$99, not $2,000. Not your weekend, either.
Most CPAs charge a retainer for a 4-page form they fill out once a year. Most DIY filers miss the historical FX rate. We do both for less than the CPA invoice.
| Feature | 3520file | CPA / attorney | DIY paper form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | $99 flat | $1,000 – $3,000 | $0 (your time) |
| Time to filed PDF | ~20 minutes | 1 – 4 weeks | 5 – 8 hours |
| Auto historical FX conversion | Manual lookup | ||
| IRS Form 3520 auto-fill | Manual | ||
| Cross-check for FBAR / Form 8938 | If you ask | ||
| AES-256 encrypted, IRS Pub 4557 compliant | Varies by firm | ||
| Audit defense / IRS representation | Refer out |
We are not a CPA firm and do not represent you before the IRS. If you're in an active audit or need legal advice, see a tax attorney. For the actual filing, we're built for it.
Pricing
$99 flat. One price. No retainer.
Attorneys charge $1,000–$3,000 for the same four-page form. We charge one flat fee per filing. No card required to start.
Form 3520 filing
Everything you need to file a complete, signed Form 3520 and drop it in the mail.
- Guided question flow — we figure out which part of Form 3520 applies
- Auto-filled IRS Form 3520 PDF
- Multi-currency conversion locked at historical FX rate
- Immutable audit log of every change to your filing
- Pre-addressed IRS Ogden envelope label
- Cross-form check: flags FBAR / Form 8938 obligations
Penalty math
The penalty for missing Form 3520 is up to 25% of the gift value. On a $200,000 inheritance that's a $50,000 hit. $99 is the cheapest form of insurance against that.
24-hour refund window if you haven't downloaded the PDF yet. Full refund policy.
Compliance & security
Security built to IRS Pub 4557.
You're handing us your SSN and foreign-gift details. We built the data architecture against IRS Publication 4557 — the taxpayer-data safeguards the IRS sets for paid preparers.
IRS Pub 4557
We follow the paid-preparer safeguards: encryption, access controls, audit logs, written security plan.
AES-256 + TLS 1.3
SSN and filing data: AES-256-GCM column-level encryption at rest. In transit: TLS 1.3.
FTC Safeguards Rule
Our security program is built around the FTC Safeguards Rule framework (16 CFR Part 314).
US-based, no offshore
All data lives in US data centers. Production access requires MFA. Data does not leave the US.
Want the full Written Information Security Plan? Read our Data Security page →
Frequently asked
What customers ask before they file. Don't see your question? Email hello@3520file.com.
If you're a US person (citizen, resident alien, domestic estate or trust) and you received more than $100,000 from a foreign individual or estate during the tax year, yes. The threshold is $20,573 (2026, indexed annually) if the gift came from a foreign corporation or partnership. You file even if no tax is owed — it's an information return.
5% of the gift value per month, capped at 25%. So on a $200,000 inheritance, missing the filing entirely can cost you $50,000 in penalties.
No. The IRS does not accept Form 3520 electronically. It must be printed, signed in pen, and mailed to the IRS Service Center in Ogden, Utah. You can sign electronically in our app first for your audit trail; the printed copy gets a wet signature before mailing. We generate everything you need, including the envelope label.
Usually no. Most foreign gifts to US persons are NOT subject to income tax. But the reporting requirement is separate from the tax requirement — you must report the gift even if it's tax-free.
Same date as your Form 1040 — typically April 15. If you file an extension on Form 1040, Form 3520 is due October 15. US persons living abroad get to June 15 by default, with extension to October 15.
File as soon as possible. The penalty clock keeps running each month. Even a late filing limits your exposure. We have a dedicated late-filer flow at /late that walks you through the additional reasonable-cause language to include with your filing.
We handle the conversion automatically. We pull the historical FX rate on the day you received the transfer, document the source, and put both the foreign-currency amount and the USD equivalent on the form.
No — the IRS does not send acceptance letters for Form 3520. Your USPS certified mail receipt is your legal proof of timely filing. We surface the tracking in your dashboard and remind you to keep the receipt for 7 years.
Our V1 product handles foreign gifts and inheritances (Form 3520 Part IV) only. Foreign trust ownership and distributions (Parts I, II, III) are more complex and we don't fully support them yet — we'd refer you to a tax attorney specialist for now. We'll add trust support later.
AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit. Your SSN is encrypted at the column level with separate keys. We follow IRS Publication 4557 (data security mandate for preparers) and the FTC Safeguards Rule. We never share your data with anyone except as required to file your form. See our Data Security page for the full WISP summary.